The present invention relates to a toy assembly and more particularly to a toy assembly which is fashioned to simulate an image processing computer.
Toy assemblies wherein hand manipulated actuating means causes movement of a member connected thereto through mechanical linkage and/or electrical linkage have long been known in the amusement toy art. Such arrangements, which often have been adopted to simulate adult mechanical and electrical tools, vehicles and play equipment, have served to stimulate the interest of children, being not only amusing and entertaining but instructive and educational as well. Among such broad category of toy assemblies has been the well known tracing device assembly disclosed in expired U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,113 issued to Arthur Grandjean on Sept. 25, 1962, which patent teaches the principle of covering a translucent glass screen with an adhering pulverulent material to make the screen opaque and then moving a mechanically controlled stylus thereover in a continuous, uninterrupted line to remove from such glass screen the pulverulent material in the path of such stylus to produce an image on the screen. The more recent, unexpired U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,505, issued to Earl D. Clark on Sept. 25, 1973, teaches a safety improvement for the casing of the tracing assembly of Grandjean, U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,113 by utilizing a protective plastic sheet to cover the translucent glass tracing surface and to further seal the escape of pulverulent or powder material.
The present invention provides a toy assembly which provides an improved tracing device over that of the aforementioned Grandjean device, recognizing the disadvantages of the continuous line tracing of Grandjean and teaching an arrangement wherein such continuous line tracing can be interrupted by selectively removing the stylus from contact with the translucent tracing surface. Further, the present invention avoids a major safety problem of past tracing devices, by utilizing a translucent plastic material as the tracing surface instead of a readily breakable glass tracing surface. In addition, the present invention incorporates these aforementioned improved tracing features into an assembly similar to that of copending patent application Ser. No. 621,197, filed June 15, 1984, to simulate an image processing computer which serves to introduce to and stimulate a young child's awareness, interest and participation in the "high technology" computer age. Moreover, the toy assembly of the present invention serves to enhance and improve the artistic and manipulative skills and hand-eye coordination of young children and, at the same time, provides participating children with many hours of busy, amusing, educational and entertaining occupation. Furthermore, the present invention provides a toy construction which can be readily manufactured and assembled with a minimum of steps and parts. Various other features of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure set forth herein.